Canadians in Europe: March 16th - 19th

Both the women's Euroleague and EuroCup competitions resumed and it was do or die for each team in the week. At the same time the men's Euroleague and the FIBA Champions League carried on as European competition basketball keeps getting more and more heated.

EuroCup Women

Fribourg had the early lead over Ramla and by the end of the first quarter were ahead by sixteen. Aislinn Konig came out firing for the Swiss team with a trio of first quarter three-pointers, Fribourg's outside game outmatching Ramla in the paint, even with a game-high 30 points from Betnijah Laney. Konig was matched by Abigail Fogg on the inside in the next two periods of play.

Despite starting the fourth quarter ahead by twenty-three, Fribourg soon found themselves in trouble when high-percentage basketball from Ramla got them to within one point with two minutes left. A pair of free-throws from Fogg and two jump shots from Taylor Koenen - one coming off an assist from Konig, saved the game at the death for the leaders.

Konig and Fogg shared the team's top scoring honours with 20 points each, Fogg also grabbing ten total rebounds, as Fribourg completed the surprise result of the round of sixteen, defeating Ramla 78-73. They advanced to the quarter-finals to face Carolo Basket, the French outfit who came through after a thirty-five point defeat of Cegled.

More early three-point success from Konig kept it close in the game against Carolo, but in the second quarter the French club built a ten-point buffer. Fogg led the fight back and Fribourg got to within four points, they found themselves heavily outscored in the final period. Outplayed on both offence and defence and trailing by as many as 31 points, Fribourg's EuroCup campaign came to an end following the 85-56 loss to Carolo. Konig and Fogg bowed out with 15 and 14 points respectively in this last game.

Euroleague Women

A close start to Lyon ASVEL's first quarter-final tie against Sopron gave way to a far more one-sided remainder. Shortly after the start of the second quarter the French club flatlined, allowing Sopron fifteen points without reply. Lyon tried to get themselves back into it from long range, but saw far more attempts fall short than hit the target. Sopron, meanwhile, were running rampant with their leader Gabby Williams proving near unstoppable on her way to a game-high 24 points.

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe contributed six while with 14 points to her name, Michelle Plouffe finished as joint top scorer for ASVEL, along with Aleksandra Crvendakic. Small comfort as the team were decimated by Sopron 94-66 and left themselves with all to do in the reverse fixture.

Days later two separate runs of ten and thirteen points put Lyon in an advantageous position over a surprisingly stagnant Sopron. Picking up enough points in the paint, Sopron were able to hold back ASVEL from reaching the twenty-eight point mark they had to win the game by.

Even with a much higher success rate on both ends of the floor, 10 points off the bench from Raincock-Ekunwe as well as 9 from Plouffe and a final result of 75-62 in their favour, it wasn't enough to save Lyon's Euroleague season. With the total score 156-141 to Sopron, they move on to the semi-finals.

FIBA Champions League

Nizhny Novgorod were first to score against PTT Ankara and carried on an upward trajectory - even after their late first quarter lead of ten points was levelled out after five minutes, they quickly responded and reclaimed their double-digit advantage just before half-time which they turned into twenty four in the second half.

Ankara were left floundering down the final stretch. Five of their players finished in double-digits - one being Kyle Wiltjer, who had 10 - but no one had an answer for Nizhny's dominance. The Russian club finished as winners 84-71 and go top at the mid-way stage of the second group stage.

After an early 16-0 run, Canarias Tenerife kept themselves at a double-digit advantage over VEF Riga, eventually reaching the highest lead of the game at 21 points in the third quarter. Giorgi Shermandini led Tenerife's scoring in the low post, which kept them firmly in control with Riga unable to touch them.

Aaron Doornakemp contributed five points for Tenerife while Shermandini was the top scorer with 25 in their statement win over Riga, with a final score of 77-64.

Euroleague

It didn't take long for Fenerbahce to turn the tide on Zalgiris Kaunas after the Lithuanian club went five points in front early on. Their short-range shooting soon saw them sitting on a double-digit lead, which Zalgiris tried to cut down from beyond the arc but their three-point shooting kept falling short.

With twelve points to his name, Dyshawn Pierre was one of three for Fenerbahce to finish in double-digits, along with Nando De Colo and Jan Vesely. The trio's combined offence in the paint saw them make short work of their latest opponents, winning by 84 points to 61.

Kevin Pangos scored six points for Zenit St Petersburg who, after trailing Baskonia in the first quarter, their low post intensity and three-point accuracy saw them ascend to a double-digit lead in the second and hold it in the third. In the fourth quarter, everything changed: Baskonia stepped up both their offence and defence and went from down fourteen to level with a minute to go, then up four.

Despite a last-second attempt by KC Rivers to win the game back for Zenit, Rokas Giedraitis sealed Baskonia's unexpected, exceptional turnaround win with a 79-75 final score in their favour. While Fenerbahce moved up in the Euroleague standings, Zenit continue to hover precariously at the playoff edge.